Dispensing container



1934- D. c. ARNOLD ET AL 1,971,127

DISPENSING CONTA1NEB Filed May 12, 1933 1 J. i. g2!

18 v 26 14 2800 az 2a Patented Aug. 21, 1934 DISPENSING Dwight C. Arnold, West Copeland, Quincy, Ma Copeland Co. Inc., Bos of Massachusetts CONTAINER Newton, and Everett D.

ss., assignors to Arnold ton, Mass, a corporation Application May 12, 1933, Serial No. 670,645

5 Claims. (Cl. 221-79) This invention relates to dispensing containers.

More especially it relates to hand-size containers of the rigid-wall type, having provision for discharge of contents by forced feed. Such containers are particularly suitable for holding and dispensing smallquantities of toilet accessories and other semi-solid substances such as pastes, creams, and greases. Also they can be used for handling powders. As compared with collapsible tube containers, which are used extensively ior this purpose, the rigid containers can standumore neatly on a bathroom shelf; occupy less shelf space in a cabinet; can be made more aesthetically attractive; and are more effective in use, in that practically every bit of contents may be dispensed, under precise control, and without any of the messiness and wastage which sometimes characterizes the collapsible tube dispensers.

The invention has among its objects the provision of an attractive, effective and low cost tubular container which has at its discharge end a device whereby the user may actuate and control the feed with the thumb or a finger of the hand which is holding the container.

Another object is to provide a simplified positive force-feed mechanism, within the tube and having no connection to the main body of the container; also to provide an effective thumb wheel control for the feed, whereby the spout; having been positioned in a'desired location for discharge can be held steady for a one-handed manipulation, and will not discharge more than the users thumb motion calls for.

The rigid tubular formation makes it possible for my improved container and dispenser to be produced commercially in shape, design and colors, of asthetic value, all of which it retains until it is empty.

The body of the container in the specimen herein shown by way of illustration, is a cylindrical shell closed at its base, which may be of aesthetic modelling, while its top is a lid or parimprovements in tition covered by a cap cooperating with this lid,

to provide bearings for the operating mechanism. An extension of the latter reaches into and through the body, to the remote inner end thereof, for expelling contents gradually and under control. The mechanism extension may be a screw suspended from the lid-cap combination, extending axially into the shell, threaded through and carrying a plunger disk fitting closely the interior of the shell and driven along it as the screw is rotated. Friction of the disk against contents of the shell holds the disli'against rotation and makes this movement possible, in cases where the shell is cylindrical. The screw is anchored against longitudinal travel, and has a small spur gear fixed thereon above the lid, with which there meshes a second gear, whose periphery protrudes through the wall of the cap for operation of the screw by the thumb orfinger 0f the hand which is holding the shell. A discharge spout projects from the cap, and a small 6.5 opening up through the lid communicates with the spout passage so that the contents of the shell may be forced out through the spout by the plunger'diskunder the control of the users thumb. The shell may be cylindrical, or of any .0 other desired contour, and may be colored and ornamented according to the taste and skill of the designer, to make it distinctive. And a suitable base may be provided serving to facilitate the standing of the container on end.

It isintended that the patent shall cover by suitable expression in the appended claims, whatever features of patentable novelty exist in the invention disclosed,

Inthe accompanying drawing:

Figure l is a perspective of one embodiment of my invention in use;

Figure 2 is an elevation, in medial vertical section, of the device of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a plan of the discharge end; and

Figure 4 is a plan, in section on 4-4 of Figure 2.

Referring to the drawing, the body 10 may be a'tuhula'r shell made of aluminum or of any other suitable material, and may be of any desired cross-sectional shape. As represent-ed it is cylindrical in form, closedby a base 12 on which the container is adapted to stand erect. A cap 14 is secured over the upper end of the body 19; and an outlet passage lfiextends through the cap and through a spout l8 thereon.

Underlying cap 14 is the lid or partition 20 which may be clamped by the cap between the cap and the end of the shell. Screw 22, depending through the lid 20, extends axially within shell 10 to a point close to the shell bottom. The upper face of the lid is recessed as at 24, and houses a gear 26 to which the upper end of screw 22 is secured, this gear being covered and enclosed in the recess by the inner face of the cap.

A thumb wheel 28 has its toothed periphery in mesh with gear 26, with a portion of its said periphery protruding through a slot 30 in a side wall of the cap, Thumb wheel 28 likewise rests in the recess covered by the cap, and has short trunnions 28 28 journaled respectively in the cap and lid. Also I prefer to have a lug 32 on the upper face of lid 20, set eccentrically, for the correct positioning of the lid, and for holding it against rotation relative to shell and cap. A passage 36 extends through the lid from the interior of the shell through the passage 16 in spout 18.

A plunger plate 38 is threaded on screw 22, nicely fitting the inside diameter of shell 10 for travel longitudinally, being thus driven when the screw is turned.

Although the embodiment of the invention herein disclosed may be made so that the cap 14 may be removed for refilling the container, I prefer to assemble the device permanently, for single service only. The invention makes this commercially feasible, because all parts are such that they may be produced in quantities at small cost, and may be quickly assembled, with need for only two rigid connections, that of gear 26 to screw 22, and that of cap 14 to shell 10 So perfectly does the invention succeed in this that the improved dispenser can be sold advantageously in competition with containers of the collapsible tube type.

.When made asa dispensing container of single service type, contents will of course be put in at the time of assembly. The plunger plate 33, detached from screw 22, may be placed loosely in the bottom of shell 10, and the shell then be filled with paste or other desired contents. The cap and lid 14, 20, with assembled screw 22 and meshing gears 26, 28held by them, may be placed over the top of the filled shell, forcing screw 22 through the paste, and, by rotation, threading the screw into the'plunger plate 38. Then the cap may be permanently secured to the shell as by cement, spot welding, or other means.

Rotation of thumb wheel 28 to the right, as held in the right hand, causes plunger plate 38 to advance along screw 22 toward the discharge end, forcing paste out at. the spout 18. And the plate may advance until it comes flat against lid 20, thereby ensuring that substantially all paste may be dispensed for use, only the small bit which at the end lies in passage 36, 16 being incapable of expression from the container.

A closure 40 for spout 18 may be provided for sealing the container when not inuse.

We claim as our invention s 1. A dispensing container comprising a tubular body having, at one end, a partition, and having cap fitting over the partition; a screw suspended from the partition and extending thence longitudinally within the tubular body; a gear wheel between the partition and cap, fixed on one end of said screw; a second gear wheel in mesh with the first, having a bearing both in the partition and in the cap, and protruding through a wall of the container for manual actuation externally as a thumb wheel, for operating the screw; and a pusher plate threaded on said screw and fitting the cross-section of the tubular body; there being a discharge opening at one end of the container.

2. A dispensing container comprising a tubular body having both of its ends closed; a fixed interior support underlying one end closure of the tube; a screw within the tube, extending approximately from end to end thereof, mounted with one end journalled in said support; a gear fixed on said journalled end of the screw, between the said support and the tube closure at that end; a plunger disk fitting in the main body of the tube, threaded on said screw; and a toothed thumb wheel meshing with said gear and projecting at the side of the tube, for operating the screw to move the plunger disk longitudinally within the tube; there being a discharge opening adjacent to the support.

3. A dispensing container comprising a tubular body having one end permanently closed and the other end closed by a removable cap; a screw extending longitudinally within the tube from a point close to the fixed closure to a location at the removable closure; a support closely underlying the removable closure, in which oneend of the screw is journalled; a slidable plunger-plate fitting the cross-section of the tube and threaded on the screw, and constituting a pusher for contents of the container; a gear fixed on the end of the screw, between said underlying support and the removable cap; and a thumb wheel meshing with said gear and projecting out through a side of said removable cap; there being aligned openings through said underlying support and removable cap, at the same end of the container as .the said thumb operating wheel, for discharge of contents.

4. A dispensing container comprising a capped tubular body wherein a partition underlies the cap and a pair of intermeshed gears intervene between the cap and the partition; a screw suspended from the partition and extending thence longitudinally within the tubular body; and a pusher plate threaded on the screw and fitting the cross-section of the tubular body; one of said gears being fixed on one end of the screw, and the other protruding through a wall of the container as a thumb wheel for operating the screw; and there being an opening in a wall of the container for escape of contents pushed by said plate.

5. A dispensing container embodying a closed tube having a discharge opening, and.- having interiorly means for expressing contents through that opening, comprising, in combination, a plate crossing the tube next to the closure at one end, said closure being also a plate; and there being a recess in the proximate faces of said plates, and gearing in the recess, with hubs journaled in still deeper recesses in said plates; said gearing being connected interiorly of the tube to said expressing means, and being edgewise exteriorly exposed to manual actuation.

DWIGHT C. ARNOLD. EVERETT D. COPELAND. 

